Phillips Headlines

“It lost out in the court of public opinion,” Price County Highway Commissioner Don Grande said, the day after the Price County Board voted to remain with the existing ATV route ordinance instead of approving a number of amendments. 

ATV supporters presented their reasons to the board for leaving the ordinance as it exists, instead of making a number of amendments and their opinions swayed the board to agree with their position. 

There were 10 supervisors who voted against the amendments with only three of the 13 county board members voting to make the changes (Bob Kopisch, Larry Palecek and Dennis Wartgow). Grande said he has always had concerns about how recreational riding can meld with the state laws written for regular vehicle travel. 

Read more: Price County Review

Glidden resident Pauline Liske is a lifelong entrepreneur, and her new business – What's Brewin' Coffee Shop – is right in line with what she likes to do. Located in the entrance of the Sears Hometown store in Park Falls, Liske's little coffee kiosk welcomes people into the building with the warm smell of coffee and sweets.

Liske had originally contacted Sears' owner Dale Biertzer to discuss setting up a kiosk for Liske's other project, a wireless program called Tempo. Biertzer was interested to bring a small welcoming business to the front of his store, and they thought combining it with a coffee shop would be the ideal additional service for customers.

Read more: Price County Review

The Phillips Loggers softball team won four games this past week and appears to be hitting their stride as the post season tournament run quickly approaches.

Phillips 10, Prentice 0

Phillips defeated the Prentice Buccaneers 10-0 Monday, May 11.

The Loggers played a very solid game. The Loggers ended up with a 10-0 win in five innings. Morgan Edwards notched another conference win by throwing a one hitter.

Read more: Price County Review

Coach Rebecca Kasowicz has been involved with the Eagles Gymnastics Club since 2009, and has been heading up the group for the past three years. Her passion for the sport and the kids she coaches has driven her to keep expanding the club every year, adding new outlets for all age groups, and both boys and girls classes. 

The Eagles Gymnastics Club is a larger overhead club for several smaller groups, all organized by Kasowicz and helpers. There is also the Chequamegon High School gymnastics team, Flip Factory Gymnastics Club team (middle school), and youth recreational gymnasts of Price County. 

Read more: Price County Review

A national survey shows beekeepers lost more than 42 percent of their colonies over the past year. Wisconsin's losses were even higher.

According to preliminary results of the Bee Informed Partnership survey, Wisconsin respondents say they lost more than 60 percent of their colonies over the last year.

“I've heard of some losing lots of bees, but 60 percent is higher than I would have anticipated from people I've talked to,” said Gordon Waller, president of Wisconsin Honey Producers.

Read more: Price County Review

Dawn Ertl, science teacher at Butternut School District, was recently selected as one of 14 science teachers from across the country to travel on a marine educational fellowship to Costa Rica.

Ertl has been the sole science teacher at the Butternut School District for the past 15 years, and this particular experience was a way to revitalize her teaching and give her the ability to connect with other like minded educators. The focus of the eight-day trip in April was an educational experience learning about endangered leatherback sea turtles. The trip was organized by the non-profit organization Ecology Project International (EPI), a group that works with scientists, educators and students in Costa Rica, the Galapagos, Belize, Baja Mexico, and Yellowstone.

“It is just about the best teacher development program,” said Ertl. “They talk about how they are going through the science [and] there's the experience with saving an endangered species, being able to work with scientists through the data they are collecting, and also learn some new things I can do with my students. This whole project is to support the research; bringing people in to teach them the research and about ecology and good stewardship.

Read more: Price County Review

The erratic and generally windy weather of the past week has kept fishing pressure at a moderate level. Water temperatures have crept up into the upper 50's and to the low 60's on some smaller lakes, which has brought more and more fish into the shallows and spurred on quite a bit of feeding activity. Walleye are usually the most sought after fish across the Northwoods in May and reports have indicated some real variable success. There hasn't been any real consistent pattern yet to the early season bite and walleye anglers have been having some good success on both crankbaits and live-bait rigs. For the live-bait fishermen, both leeches and minnows have been having good success and the break lines in 8 to 15 feet of water have been producing the best. The crankbait anglers have been catching fish along gravel and wind-swept shorelines.

Read more: Price County Review

Vietnam veterans were remembered and again welcomed home at a Veteran’s Celebration in Prentice Saturday, May 9.

The Women’s Auxiliary of VFW Post 8491 dedicated a wreath at the new 1965 Vietnam Memorial at the Prentice Hall in acknowledgement of current veterans and those who had not come home.

Read more: Price County Review

Phillips Police Chief Michael Hauschild announced the relocation of Justin W. Smith on Tuesday, May 26, 2015, from the custody of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Smith was convicted of first degree sexual assault of a child on October 8, 1996, sex with a child age 16 or older on October 8, 1996, and first degree sexual assault of a child on September 13, 2007, in Price County. Smith is being released at this time as he has severed the maximum time allowed by the court of conviction. Smith is currently under the supervision of local probation agents or the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.

Read more: Price County Review

A mid-afternoon snack. Visiting with Grandpa. Taking a ride on your bike and playing with friends. Those are fun things to do and you really hate to quit doing them. But as Grandma says, all good things must come to an end.

Or do they? In the new book “Lizzie and the Last Day of School” by Trinka Hakes Noble, illustrated by Kris Aro McLeod, an ending is just a beginning.

On the first day of nursery school, Lizzie decided that she loved school. She just loved everything about it. Kindergarten was even better but when it was over, Lizzie was sad. She missed kindergarten so much that she made her little sister, Lulu, play “school” all summer long.

Read more: Price County Review

Phillips Chief of Police Michael Hauschild recently suggested to City of Phillips council members that they review an ordinance that the City of Park Falls currently has in effect, regulating the movements of sex offenders within city limits.

At the Phillips Committee of the Whole meeting on May 5, Hauschild provided council members with a copy of the City of Park Falls ordinance to review, stating that instituting it in Phillips could help prevent future crimes.

“It would be a good ordinance to have,” stated Hauschild. “The sex offenders that already live in the city would be grandfathered in this ordinance. If this where adopted, it would prevent any new sex offenders from residing within 1,500 feet of specific areas.”

Read more: Price County Review

Christ the Servant Lutheran Church in Park Falls is holding a fundraiser to benefit long-time community and congregation member Kenny Smith. Kenny will be leaving Chequamegon High School this spring, and transitioning to Almost Home Daycare in Park Falls. As Kenny has cerebral palsy and gets around in a wheelchair, it is necessary for a lift to be placed at Almost Home. Since he already has a lift at home, insurance will not pay for the lift and funds will need to be raised by other means.

Enter the Christ the Servant congregation. “We are raising funds to purchase the lift he will use at Almost Home,” said Pastor Gwen Downing. “This is a wonderful opportunity to help out a young man.”

Read more: Price County Review

The state Assembly held a public hearing Thursday on legislation that would phase out a class-size reduction program for low-income students in kindergarten through third grade.

Under the proposal, the program would be replaced with a different one that would target the state's income achievement gap.

The nearly 20-year-old program that would be phased out is called Student Achievement Guarantee in Education, also known as SAGE. According to the Department of Public Instruction's website, SAGE schools sign renewable five-year contracts that aim to encourage achievement through lower class sizes.

Read more: Price County Review

Caitlin Rublee, an alumna of the former Park Falls High School (now Chequamegon High School) in Park Falls and currently a student at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, is one of 14 medical students chosen by FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics) to participate in a two-week program for future physicians that will take place this summer in New York, Germany, and Poland.

Now in its sixth year of operation, FASPE is a unique international program that explores the history of the Holocaust as a way to engage graduate students across five different fields (business, journalism, law, medicine, and religion) in an intensive study of contemporary ethics in their discipline. FASPE is predicated upon the power of place, and in particular, the first-hand experience of visiting Auschwitz and traveling in Germany and Poland, where Fellows study the past and consider how to apply the lessons of history to the current ethical challenges they will confront in their own professions.

Read more: Price County Review